Fire & Ice

The Schweitzer Winter Carnival was the back drop for this weekends photos. We spent Saturday night with Mike and Caroline Beckwith up at their condo on the mountain. We arrived about 3:30 PM and since Mike was working as a Mt. Host we sat and talked until the sun went down. It was snowing as we walked to the village where Linda and Caroline popped into Mojo Coyote Cafe for a little wine tasting. I think they liked the Huckleberry Blush from Pend d'Oreille Winery the best, although it took several different glasses to get to that conclusion, and that may have distorted their tasting and ability to judge.

After the wine we walked into the village further and watched the fire dancers. They were a very innovative group that liked to burn bio fuels and fake palm trees. The celebration was capped off by a torch light parade down one of the runs and a real nice fireworks display. I took a bunch of pictures of the happenings and the best photos are posted below.

It was snowing real hard and I mean real hard. I tried different settings to see if I could get some usable shots. The thing about fireworks and pictures with a digital camera is that the camera shoots when it is ready not when the fireworks go off. Then the fireworks don’t explode in the same area each time, in fact that is what makes them so cool is the unpredictability of the blast. I had to toss about 85% of the shots I took. Many times I just pointed the camera in the direction of the fireworks area and held down the shutter button.

The first series are shots of the torch light parade. The six white lights are the grooming cats used to frame the skiers giving them some light to move in. In these photos I either over exposed them because of the cat lights or I moved the camera because my fingers were falling off.

The fireworks photos are ok, but with my camera it’s real hard to shoot, especially when it is snowing like a #@&*%^! I hope you enjoy them, because I am still thawing what's left of my fingers.